Teaching and Learning Guide for: Places of Work, Scales of Organising: A Review of Labour Geography

Author's Introduction Labour geography has emerged as a vibrant, young stream of research within the critical geography tradition. It encompasses a variety of academic contributions which apply a spatial political economy approach to the world of work, ranging from analyses of the structural factors of local labour markets to studies of union strategies. The task of the article ‘Places of work . . .’ has been to offer an updated review of the existing literature, and to see the theoretical insights of these contributions in relation to each other. Fuelled by the emergence of new organising strategies among trade unions in neoliberal economies, there has been a revived interest in unionism amongst geographers. Labour geographers operate in the intersection of political and economic geography, and should appear on the reading list of any student who seeks to understand the contested nature of neoliberal globalisation. This Teaching and Learning Guide will focus on certain topics identified as key areas where labour geography can offer relevant insights. Hopefully, the guide can function as a supplement to other syllabi on geographies of labour and work by placing an emphasis on labour agency – i.e. the political opportunities of workers. Author Recommends 1. Peck, J. (1996). Workplace: the social regulation of labor markets . New York, NY: Guilford Press. The Peck book is a good place to start reading up on the theoretical foundations of labour geography. It provides a sophisticated Marxian analysis of the labour market, and links this understanding to the politics of reproduction and to collective action. 2. Herod, A. (ed.) (1998). Organizing the landscape: geographical perspectives on labor unionism . Minnesota, MN: University Press. 3. Herod, A. (2001). Labor geographies: workers and the landscapes of capitalism . New York, NY: Guilford Press. The two Herod books are seminal contributions to the discipline, and both are still worth reading. The 1998 anthology is noteworthy for the number of influential case studies presented (particularly the chapters by Savage and Mitchell), whereas Chapter 2 in Labor Geographies brings the theoretical sophistication of labour agency a long step forward. 4. Castree, N., N. Coe, K. Ward and M. Samers (2004). Spaces of work: Global capitalism and geographies of labour . London, UK: Sage Publications. The only proper text book in the field has taken labour geography beyond single case studies and essay reflections, and serves as a brilliant introduction to the key concepts. It can also function as an alternative syllabus to the one presented here. 5. Castree, N. (2000). ‘Geographical scale and grassroots internationalism: the Liverpool dock dispute, 1995–1998.’ Economic Geography 76(3): 272–292. The discussion of internationalism presented in this article has the advantage of having been preceded by other case studies on the possibilities of internationalism. It serves as an apt response to these, and problematises the notion of scaling‐up. 6. Moody, K. (1997). Workers in a lean world . London, UK: Verso. Academic calls for the social movement unionism model have tended to portray existing trade unions as old and outdated. Moody's book remains the most convincing case for the labour movement's continued relevance in global social movements. Moreover, it provides some very good examples of alternative forms unionism around the world. 7. Hale, A. and J. Wills (2007). ‘Women working worldwide: transnational networks, corporate social responsibility and action research.’ Global Networks 7(4): 453–76. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0374.2007.00179.x Organised labour in the global South has been marginalised, not only in the world economy but also in labour geography! Hale and Wills provides a counterpoint to this tendency by examining the constraints and possibilities of these workers – and the possibilities of creating transnational solidarity links through progressive research. 8. Johns, R., and Vural, L. (2000). Class, geography and the consumerist turn: UNITE and the Stop Sweatshops campaign. Environment and Planning A 32, pp. 1193–1214. doi: 10.1068/a3255 Building on the transnationalism of the previous text, Johns and Vural present a strong case for discussion other subjects – such as the consumer – in relation to labour agency. 9. Tufts, S. (1998). ‘Community unionism in Canada and labour's (re)organizing of space.’ Antipode 30(3): 227–250. doi: 10.1111/1467-8330.00076 Tufts’ article remains the best introduction to community unionism in North America, as well as an excellent discussion of the link between geographical concepts and trade unionism. 10. Wills, J. (2005). ‘The geography of union organising in low‐paid service industries in the UK: lessons from the T&G's campaign to unionise the Dorchester Hotel.’ Antipode 37(1): 139–159. doi: 10.1111/j.0066-4812.2005.00477.x More than just a fascinating case study, this text should be read for its sensitivity to issues of migration, culture and age in relation to collective worker mobilisation. Online Resources 1. The ILR School at Cornell University has set up an impressive website under the heading ‘The Globalization and the Workplace’. Here you can find resources and links that are very relevant to geographers with an interest in labour issues. http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/globalPortal/ 2. The sheer amount of statistics that exists on the website of the International Labor Organization (ILO) makes it a useful place to search for information on global labour. http://www.ilo.org/ 3. A perspective on worker struggles and labour internationalism from the global South is provided on the website of the Southern Initiative on Globalisation and Trade Union Rights (SIGTUR) . The website offers useful links to trade unions in South Korea, Brazil and South Africa. http://www.sigtur.com/ 4. L

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